Dawn Wells: What I've Learned

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Everybody bet it wouldn't last three weeks. Everybody thought it was the stupidest show ever written. It can't be stupid and have survived like it has. We've never been off the air.

I never slept until noon in my life. I was never one of those teenagers that couldn't get out of bed on Saturday morning. I'm up at six. Hence the name Dawn.

The Gilligan's Island experience of seven misfits trying to get together and survive is kind of what the world is today. All the nationalities and languages, different morals and faiths, trying to get along on this planet.

The one food I could not live without is mayonnaise. I put it on scrambled eggs. I put it on peanut butter. I just love mayonnaise.

An only child doesn't learn to share.

I studied chemistry. The reason I like chemistry is it's either right or wrong. Philosophy drives me crazy.

One of the great things about Stephens College is you went there to become who you were, not to find a husband, because it was all women. You might've come to learn to fly a plane. I went to college with the first female astronaut! You didn't care how you looked, because there was no boy sitting next to you.

The essential message of every single show was about sharing. Gilligan always did something wrong. He screwed up all the time. Did we bully him? Did we ever kick him in the butt? No. We forgave him. That's a pretty strong message, and you were getting it without its being shoved down your throat.

Both men and women like Mary Ann. If you were a girl, I would've been your best friend. I wouldn't have tried to take your boyfriend away, and I think you would've trusted me. Mary Ann shared in the work—she did the laundry, she cooked, she made sure everybody behaved themselves. She really was the mother on that show. Sherwood Schwartz was smart enough to put me in short shorts so that there was the sex appeal, too.

Tina and I were not particularly close. People always tried to make it as if we were in competition. I didn't feel any of that. We were two different people. We just didn't have a whole lot in common. But I think that's why the chemistry on Gilligan's Island worked.

The actor I knew the least was Jim Backus [Thurston Howell]. But I can tell you this: He was a skinflint! He would always ask Natalie, who played Mrs. Howell, and I out to lunch. "Let me take you girls out to lunch." We'd go to lunch and he'd say, "Oh, I don't have my credit card." Somehow we'd always pick it up. At the end of the year, Natalie said, "Jim, here's a bill for taking us to lunch all year."

My mother and I were born on the same day, so I've always celebrated with somebody, but now that she's gone, it's all mine.

By the time you get to be my age, you know your own shortcomings.

What happened wasGunsmoke was canceled and we were moved into their time slot. Mrs. Paley—the wife of the board chairman—had been on vacation when Gunsmoke was canceled, and when she got home, she said, "You can't cancel Gunsmoke. It's my favorite show." So they canceled us.

Maybe the reason people love Mary Ann so much is they're trying to hold on to what was.